Vonage Fair Useage Policy?

Posts: 15 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 25, 2006 Posts: 15

Has anybody cancelled theirs yet? if you have you didn't have any problems did you? I phoned mine to cancel today. Spoke to paula. I INSISTED that I wanted to cancel but she kept going on and on about oh how they will be looking at patterns for the fair use policy and mentioned 3000 minutes. I kept saying as I said I want to cancel and she kept going on about the patterns. I got so angry that I hung up and I'll try again tomorrow I guess.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 08, 2007 Posts: 5

No its not unfair.

They are giving you (Even if your in a contract) a weeks notice to accept the new terms. At least (not like many other companies) they are informing you of the new terms.

If you don't like the new terms, you can leave before the end of the week with out penalties.

HOWEVER, they do say "No limits" with NO reference to any fair usage in the advert, that it self is very misleading,

Oh, did you know you can transfer your vonage number to another Voip Phone provider, just a little tip.

John

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 08, 2007 Posts: 5

Well it really depends if your in a contract.

If you are in a contract, and you do breach the terms, and they kick you off the service, is there any financial penalties to your self?

All you need from Vonage is a guarantee that there is no financial penalties if they kick yea off the service(and refund you for the price of the vonage router)

NUTTER123 wrote:

Has anybody cancelled theirs yet? if you have you didn't have any problems did you? I phoned mine to cancel today. Spoke to paula. I INSISTED that I wanted to cancel but she kept going on and on about oh how they will be looking at patterns for the fair use policy and mentioned 3000 minutes. I kept saying as I said I want to cancel and she kept going on about the patterns. I got so angry that I hung up and I'll try again tomorrow I guess.

Posts: 15 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 25, 2006 Posts: 15

I've been with them since august 2006. I cn't see why there should be a problem for me leaving. I think it's just a very persuasive person trying to get me to stay when I clearly said no. Hopefully I'll speak to somebody better tomorrow.

Posts: 14 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 15, 2006 Posts: 14

jgw2001 wrote:

No its not unfair.

They are giving you (Even if your in a contract) a weeks notice to accept the new terms. At least (not like many other companies) they are informing you of the new terms.

If you don't like the new terms, you can leave before the end of the week with out penalties.

I don't know where you got this from - my email said

From today 25 April 2008 to help ensure reliability and quality of the Vonage Service we have introduced a fair use policy. The fair use policy applies to all call plans

and then in the terms and conditions

You agree that if you use the Service after any changes take effect you will be bound by the changes

So as soon as I used the phone on 25 April according to them I had implicitly accepted the new terms whether I had read the email or not.

And btw neither the email or the terms mention the 2000 minutes - that is buried away on the website and nowhere does it mention that Vonage to Vonage calls are included.

That's a pretty strange definition of fair in my book.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: May 06, 2008 Posts: 2

I'm beyond disgusted with this sudden change to the user agreement - I called about 10 minutes after receiving the email and spoke to a poor customer service person who had no idea of the fair use policy until a few minutes before I called.. they had no idea what to tell me either - could I go for another plan and increase minutes (which would not indicate it was a fair use policy at all).

I had used 20hrs in ten days speaking to family in the States - so I was in trouble - had I known before I would have rationed my usage out.

Vonage still adverises Unlimited usage which is surely a matter for advertising standards.

Vonage went from a good service to being more expensive than an international calling card - plus the wording of there fair use nonsense made me feel like I was doing some wrong - I WAS JUST USING THE SERVICE I PAID FOR - grrrrr!

Yesterday I signed up with Skype so I can speak to my family unhindered.. tomorrow I shall find out from Vonage what the latest news is - if they are not forthcoming with a reasonable solution I shall cancel my service and seek legal action if I get any hassle.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Sep 02, 2005 Posts: 9

Would be interesting to hear from anyone that gets warned or cut off as a result of exceeding the 2000 mins or is it that Vonage are just keepinhg their options open to implement their new "fair use" policy.......
I'm wondering will this 2000 mins "policy" apply to their Small Business Plans ??
Wink

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 9

Fonegeezer wrote:

Would be interesting to hear from anyone that gets warned or cut off as a result of exceeding the 2000 mins or is it that Vonage are just keepinhg their options open to implement their new "fair use" policy.......
I'm wondering will this 2000 mins "policy" apply to their Small Business Plans ??
Wink

Frankly don't care if they actually follow through on the threat or not, I don't think I actually use more than 2000 minutes anyhow, or if I pay more by switching even. Its the astonishing bad attitude of a company that advertises unlimited calls and then tells you its limited to 1 hour a day, oh and they aren't authorised to take Maestro payments anymore, it all says a lot about which way this company is going.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: May 11, 2008 Posts: 1

It is a very poor show that Vonage have implemented this change in their terms, without seemingly any thought.

As for not changing their website from saying "unlimited calls", this is very conflicting and am sure it conflicts with trade descriptions.

I do think Vonage are aware of the quality of their service, which is far better than UK rivals, such as Skype or Tesco, in terms of functions (999 calls, call barring etc). This awareness has clearly made them complacent.

I do think all Vonage users should kick up a fuss, either with their customer services, trading standards or BBC Watchdog, just out of principle.

It is simply bad customer relations. I don't think that BT, Sky, Skype, Virgin Media etc (i.e. any competitor in telecommunications), would dare implementing such a change in the way Vonage have.

I think this may be the biggest mistake Vonage have made in the UK, where they potentially could have dominated the VOIP serivce market.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: May 06, 2008 Posts: 2

Right - was too busy to deal with Vonage customer service until today (had signed up with Skype in the meantime so..).. anyway..

I emailed Vonage using the email address found via the Contact Us link - only to have my email returned as undeliverable:

Quote:

Dear Valued Customer,

The email you just sent to us was not received because it was sent directly to an email address that does not accept emails.

..which said a lot to me Sad

Pretty ****ed I phoned to cancel my contract and spoke to someone who said that the fair use policy basically applies to people* who are using the residential service for business purposes.. and as I had only 3 numbers that I called frequently, even if my account went over 3000 minutes and was reviewed they'd probably have no problem with it.

In real terms this is a kind of wishy washy answer - and equals no guarantee of service (having been told - "why don't you stay with us and see what happens").

I folded.. and decided to keep both Vonage and Skype (for now).. and if I get grief from Vonage (more than what I'm getting already having to contact them and post here) then I'll stick with my (10,000 min fair use) Skype account and cancel Vonage without a second thought. Rolling Eyes

Shame, sturdy service ruined by inconsiderate change of terms of use - making their customers look elsewhere.. dumb business sense.

Anyone else with more information keep us poster - please!

*cheap internet cafes with multiple users.